Mount Jefferson - tougest in winter?? Slope Steepnes??

[giggy]

The tough winter thread made me start this - I think this could be a fun discussion - but apologize for dups. I always thought jefferson had potential to be the toughest and seeing others share my opinion - there may actually be some truth to it. Of course on a perfect day anything in the pressie range is doable. But even on a perfect day, I thought this was more strenous than the others and harder to pick the route up. We stopped many times to find way up and backtracked more than a fews times. We did turn back near the jeff loop due to time. I think if we came up the randolph path instead of lowes to gulfside - we probably would have got it - but I was just humbled of the challenge of this on a perfect day - in marignal/bad conditons, I would feel much safe on washington or adams.

Also - I am a bad judge on judgeing steepness - am I out of line saying that some of the snow feilds on jefferson are around 50-60 degrees? It seemed to be the some of the steepest stuff I have seen on any of the summit cones up there.

We followed off about SW when facing the edmunds col memerial - I think this might have been off the official trail a bit - it was fun but tiring!

 

[Jim lombard]

From the West?

I wonder how many will attempt from the west by taking Jewell right out of the Cog parking lot and then Gulfside. The exposure on this route would be BRUTAL!, I believe more miles above treeline than from the East, but the grades are much more gentle from the West and there is less elevation to gain. From the east or the west I would agree that Jefferson ranks up there among the hardest in winter.

 

[giggy]

I think many will try it - including myself!! The observatory had a pic from sat and I think it was either people on clay or coming up washington from the jewell and it was line of people.

 

[Michelle]

Only 6!

There were only 6 of us in that picture from Saturday, it was a beauty of a day too!!

I agree that Jefferson is the more exposed/more difficult off the Presidentials to get to in winter and going up Jewell seems like it would be a bit easier.......but I guess it all depends on the weather and winds!

 

[expat]

How about Six Husbands

The Six Husbands makes a challenging trip. There are trail-finding difficulties near the base, and very steep terrain further up. Have fun on the ladders with snowshoes!

 

[Rob S]

The Six Husbands makes a challenging trip. There are trail-finding difficulties near the base, and very steep terrain further up. Have fun on the ladders with snowshoes!

I've been wanting to do the Six Husbands Trail in the summer. But not in the winter. After seeing summer trip reports and photos, I can hardly imagine taking that route in the winter.

Back on topic, I'm considering my 3rd winter attempt on Jefferson in early March. After 2 failed winter attempts, I am hoping the 3rd time is the charm. Someone from this board, forget whom it was, made 4 or 5 winter attempts before he/she made it. Any mountain on any given day can be your personal Everest, my Everest is still Jefferson ......... for now.

 

[sierra]

jeffewrson

IMo, the easiest way to climb Jefferson in the winter, is to snoeshoe?ski up the road, camp at the base of the Caps ridge and go top the summitt from there the next day early. This I did with success on the first try.

 

[coldmountain]

Mt. Jefferson is not only a difficult summit to get to, it also has my alltime least favorite trail; The Cornice. AH The Cornice. A tedious icy windswept boulder field with no path and no discernable markings. Lateral travel on a cone isnt supposed to be a blast, I know, but man next time I might just go limp, toss myself down the mountain and clean up at the bottom.

 

[peakbagger]

As someone noted previously, the conditions make the hike. Me and a friend climbed it on January 2nd one year from the caps ridge parking lot after driving up the road from the north end. Round trip it was about 4 hours. We thought we were the only ones smart enough to do it until we encountered a group of ladies from a college in Boston who drove up from the south end of the road. Overall it was a bit bony and occasionally breezy, but a nice way to bag a summit!

BTW, this is definitely not normal occurance, but the current forecast for rain and warm temps could open up the road this weekend.

 

[Frodo]

6 Husbands is on my "to do" list for winter. I personally do not know anyone who has done it in winter, though due to the crampon scratches on several of the upper slabs, people do venture there in winter conditions...

The Castle Trail and Lowes/Randolph have been the standard winter routes, but that might change with the Base Rd now being open in winter.

I have also considered Monroe a tough winter peak, but with the road open it is now quite accessable.

There was a low turnout for opening day for the Cog ski run (probably due to the lack of a ski base, though there was a good 12-18" of snow), but I wonder if this is going to be a profitable business venture. We shall see... For now, we should use this "accessability" while it exists...

 

[SherpaKroto]

giggy/Michelle, you mean THIS picture?

i12climbup: that would be me.
2000: 2 attempts by my brother and me on back to back days in March from Gray Knob cabin, but after 2 days, no summits.
2001: same thing, (we sent MtnBob back after .3 miles on the Grey Knob Trail). We hit 60+mph winds and a complete whiteout in Edmands col. Had to bushwhack back to Lowe's Path which took us over 2 hours. Finally decided Adams on day 3 would be a lot easier , and it was.
2002: Tramper Al and I walked along the Grey Knob trail to scout out conditions, then summitted the following day, in challenging conditions, following map, compass and GPSr. Had so much fun that we continued on to Adams and summitted that one also! Next day, in perfect conditions, Madison's summit welcomed us (and we got to wave at Michelle, chomp, carole and a bunch of VFTTers on Washington and Moriah!)

Mohamed: is this the year?

 

[giggy]

no that wasn't the picture I was talking about - go to mountwashington.org and look in the archive of observers comments for monday (or sunday) - it should be there - it is people on clay. Yours is great though - is that coming up tuckermans?

actually - for the six husbands people - I have never done this - How is this compared to huntington ravine trail as far is steppness. I heard it is about the saem - just not as many steep sections

6 husbands is also on my list. winter or summer. The approach would be long in winter I would think. I know a guy who hiked in the great gulf in winter and fell through the ice into a pond.? Not a good situation to be in. I don't know where in the gulf though./

 

[Mark_151]

Jefferson -- Caps Ridge in summer, Castle Trail in the winter. Both bluebird days, absolutly unbelievably perfect. Winter was in '95, but as I recall it was a long climb, but relativly uneventful. Same with Washington, everytime I've been up (although I haven't summited yet -- just played in Huntington's).

Adams, on the other hand, hates my freakin' guts......

 

[Frodo]

This is the picture that Giggy and Michelle are refering to. It is Myself, Stinkyfeet, Michelle, Post'r Boy, Andy, and Doug heading over Clay and up to the summit of Washington. Two of the Obs staff came out to greet us on the summit and told us they saw us heading accross the ridge and took some pictures of us. What a day!

Roy, the parking situation is day hikers can park for free in the Cog's lower lot, but vehicles left overnight are subject to being towed. The Ammo lot is not plowed.

 

[sierra]

pic

Man Ive seen alot of White mountain pictures, but that is one sweet pic, wish I was in it.

 

[expat]

I've done Six Husbands twice in winter

I did Six Husbands in winter twice. First in 1990 with one other. Breaking trail was tough. We camped at the junction of Six Husbands and Great Gulf, did Six Husbands up and down as a day trip, then hiked out the third day. 5 hours up, 1.5 hours down with some really good glissades! The next time, about 1997, a group of four, camping at the same location. We did Six Husbands up, Sphinx down. Had a hard time staying on the trail on the Sphinx.

Six Husbands is an exhilirating winter trail. Very steep with great views into Great Gulf. Snowshoes below treeline, crampons above. Some locations of exposure coming down.

 

[expat]

Six Husbands followup

I missed a couple of questions above re: Six Husbands. Although it may be nearly as steep as Huntington, I don't think it has the same level of exposure, so it doesn't feel as steep. The pond your friend probably fell into in Great Gulf was problaby Spaulding. It's on the Great Gulf trail above the junction with the Sphinx trail.

 

[expat]

one more six husbands post

found a picture of the ladder on Six Husbands in winter.

 

[Lovetohike]

Winter Six Husbands question(s)

Expat:
I am impressed! How were those crawl-through-holes-in-the-rocks sections in winter? I imagined they may be blocked off with snow and very difficult to go around. Also, coming down must have been a bit hairy, since there are a couple slabby places with some pretty good exposure. Beyond several great warm weathere ascents of this trail, the closest I came to a winter one was one fall trip with just a dusting of fresh snow and that made me a bit nervous in a couple spots... Plus, once you get past the very steep section and onto the shoulder of Jefferson, you're pretty exposed if the weather deteriorates, it's a pretty long trek over to the Sphinx if you're trying to escape, and that's the only choice. I think this is all why not too many people have appeared to have tackled this trail in winter.

 

[expat]

reply to Six Husbands questions

Lovetohike, in the crawl areas, we did both. A couple of us had to take our packs off and pull them behind us to crawl under the boulders. A couple in the group bushwhacked around, and got above them at about the same time.

The glissade down was very fast in some areas, but when we did it there was plenty of loose snow, so that we were able to use that with the ice axes to control our descent.

It's a really great route for reasonably experienced winter hiker. It does require at least one overnight, though, due to it's remoteness.